Hanby and Barrett

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We – Julian Hanby and Andy Barrett – first worked together in 1997 when a youth group asked us to help them stage an alien invasion of Bilsthorpe, a mining village in the north of Nottinghamshire, (Area 52) and having created utter bewilderment and no little amazement in the place, realised that we should carry on trying to do the same elsewhere.

Our work since then has continued pretty much in the same vein – of creating visually spectacular shows that aim to surprise the audience in the manner in which they are staged. They are about theatre as an event, creating shows that we hope will lodge in the mind of all who participate and observe.

And we have been fortunate to work in all kinds of places across the region. Our play in Oakham imagined the town and county being run by a private company – put out to tender – and enabled us to tackle the social and environmental issues that really mattered to the community: house prices, supermarkets, farming, tourism and identity. The project that took place in Maplebeck, as part of The Festival of The Beck, was a lively romp through the history of the village and had our smallest cast to date. There were twelve people in the show; but then the village only had a population of sixty-two, so we don’t think we did too badly! One of our collaborations with Broxtowe Borough Council allowed us to inhabit the woods at Halloween and to bring a 1930′s manor house back to life, complete with butlers, cooks, servants and musicians.

We’ve had fun in the places we’ve worked. We get to climb lots of church towers. Nottingham train station gave us use of the “bing-bong” address system. People let us use their spectacular buildings as backdrops for our plays. And we’re nearly always made to feel very welcome by people who never cease to amaze us with their knowledge, imagination and willingness to muck in.

We have developed partnerships with BBC Radio, The Local Heritage Initiative, Arts Council England, The University of Nottingham and local authorities and festivals across the East Midlands, building up a reputation for well planned and delivered projects which have attracted very large audiences and leave the communities in which work was placed with a real sense of occasion.

Generally, Julian works as producer and Andy as writer. Sometimes we will direct the projects, sometimes we employ in directors. We work regularly with a group of artists, designers, technicians, pyrotechnicians and stage managers all of whom contribute greatly to the success of the projects. Project participants can be assured that they are being well supported by a team of professional artists and that the results will exceed expectations.

Alongside our projects we have a wide variety of skills, offering workshops, teaching, training and project management. We also work independently of each other.

Andy is a Sony Award winning writer who has had work commissioned by Amnesty International, BBC Radio Four, New Perspectives and the Nottingham Playhouse.

Julian is a theatre designer, technician and stage manager, has worked on numerous multimedia performances and has provided technical support for projects in Britain, France and USA. He also works as a graphic designer.